The Golden Secrets of Lettering: Letter Design from First Sketch to Final Artwork


Martina Flor - 2016
    With easy-to-understand instructions and guidelines, plenty of inspirational examples, and hundreds of hand sketches and illustrations, Martina Flor shows readers how to transform their initial lettering concepts and handdrawn sketches into a well-shaped, exquisite piece of digital lettering that can be sold and published. Readers learn how to train their "typographic eye" by studying lettering samples and the anatomy of letters; explore concepts of hierarchy, composition, and flourishes; and discover the many different ways of creating letter shapes. In addition, Flor explains the process of creating a lettering project step by step— from start to finish, from analog to digital—and gives valuable tips about how to make a career as a lettering artist.

The Watercolor Flower Artist's Bible: An Essential Reference for the Practicing Artist


Claire Waite Brown - 2007
    The stylish design of this book, along with the interior photographs, illustrations and diagrams, make the learning process simple and fun for beginning painters and provides useful tips for more advanced artists.This book is divided into three sections. In the first section, you will find practical advice on choosing the necessary tools and equiopment as well as hints on mixing colors€”one of the trickier skills to master until you have learned some of the basic properties of color. Next, the techniques used in watercolor painting are explained in detail, from the most basic like laying washes and reserving highlights to some of the more unusual and exciting methods like wax-resist or spattering paint. Tutorials and more than 100 step-by-step sequences demonstrate how to paint a wide range of subjects, including landscapes, buildings, people and still life. Over 180,000 copies sold worldwide.

The Secret Lives of Color


Kassia St. Clair - 2016
    From blonde to ginger, the brown that changed the way battles were fought to the white that protected against the plague, Picasso's blue period to the charcoal on the cave walls at Lascaux, acid yellow to kelly green, and from scarlet women to imperial purple, these surprising stories run like a bright thread throughout history.In this book, Kassia St. Clair has turned her lifelong obsession with colors and where they come from (whether Van Gogh's chrome yellow sunflowers or punk's fluorescent pink) into a unique study of human civilization. Across fashion and politics, art and war, the secret lives of color tell the vivid story of our culture.

Soviet Bus Stops


Christopher Herwig - 2014
    From the shores of the Black Sea to the endless Kazakh steppe, the bus stops show the range of public art from the Soviet era and give a rare glimpse into the creative minds of the time. Herwig’s series attracted considerable media interest around the world, and now with the 12 year project complete, the full collection will be presented in Soviet Bus Stops as a deluxe, limited edition, hard cover photo book. The book represents the most comprehensive and diverse collection of Soviet bus stop design ever assembled.

CCCP: Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed


Frédéric Chaubin - 2011
    They reveal an unexpected rebirth of imagination, an unknown burgeoning that took place from 1970 until 1990. Contrary to the twenties and thirties, no “school” or main trend emerges here. These buildings represent a chaotic impulse brought about by a decaying system. Their diversity announces the end of Soviet Union. Taking advantage of the collapsing monolithic structure, the holes of the widening net, architects revisited all the chronological periods and styles, going back to the roots or freely innovating. Some of the daring ones completed projects that the Constructivists would have dreamt of (Druzhba sanatorium), others expressed their imagination in an expressionist way (Tbilisi wedding palace). A summer camp, inspired by sketches of a prototype lunar base, lays claim to its suprematist influence (Promethee). Then comes the speaking architecture widespread in the last years of the USSR: a crematorium adorned with concrete flames (Kiev crematorium), a technological institute with a flying saucer crashed on the roof (Kiev institute), a political center watching you like a Big Brother (Kaliningrad House of Soviet). This puzzle of styles testifies to all the ideological dreams of the period, from the obsession with the cosmos to the rebirth of privacy and it also outlines the geography of the USSR, showing how local influences made their exotic twists before bringing the country to its end.

Little Book of Lettering


Emily Gregory - 2012
    Contemporary artists, typesetters, and designers of all kinds are exploring new horizons in illustrated and hand-drawn lettering, digitally rendered lettering, and 3D lettering. This collection—large in scope but petite in size—surveys the recent lettering renaissance, showcasing a diverse range of talent in gorgeous, eye-catching examples and profiling today's innovators. In a stunning little package that expertly combines a handmade feel with a modern aesthetic, this is the ultimate inspirational collection of contemporary lettering for design buffs and type enthusiasts alike.

Obey: Supply and Demand


Shepard Fairey - 2006
    Through the lens of esteemed writers and critics such as Carlo McCormick, Steven Heller and Roger Gastman, Fairey's work is seen for all its depth and placed in context as art, design, social experiment and "getting over". This massive book pulls no punches and all areas of the enigmatic artist's work, travels and travails are illuminated; from exhibitions, posters, flyers, silkscreens and stickers to high altitude pursuits, citations and police beatings, it's all documented in a museum quality layout and binding. The evidence is in, and it's clear that Shepard Fairey is not one to rest on his laurels, the work must go on. For both long time fans wanting the complete collection and those just curious to know what this OBEY business is all about Supply and Demand is the answer.

Threadless: Ten Years of T-shirts from the World's Most Inspiring Online Design Community


Jake Nickell - 2010
    It pioneered the online business model of crowd-sourced or community-driven design, in which people submit designs that are voted on by the site’s 1 million users and printed. Over the past 10 years, the company has amassed a vast archive of very cool, very hip, and often very entertaining designs, and Threadless is a spectacular showcase of 400 of the very best T-shirts created by the community—a barometer of art and design over the past decade.   Much more than a book of extraordinary graphics, Threadless tells the extremely interesting story that inspired Inc. magazine to hail Threadless.com as “the most innovative small company in America.” There are also profiles of individual designers and “think pieces” from influential admirers, including design guru John Maeda, Jeff Howe of Wired, and bestselling business/marketing writer Seth Godin.Praise for Threadless:"If you page through this book, you'll see example after example of love, art, and joy." -Seth Godin, author of twelve international bestsellers "With its message of passion, creativity and fearlessness, the Threadless book is more than just a visually stimulating flip-through. Its 224 pages of design, artwork, and creativity make for an inspirational read for any entrepreneurial start-up." -Coolhunting.com "Page after page of awesome designs." -Wired.com "The Threadless book is a treat-more informative than an art book, less boring than a Harvard Business Review case-study, a sweet-spot between commercialism and passion, like the site itself." -Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing.net

Apes and Babes: Book One


Frank Cho - 2009
    From the award-winning creator of Liberty Meadows, Zombie King, and Jungle Girl, this 144-page, full-color collection showcases Frank Cho's past and present illustrations and reveals why he's one of the top masters of the female form and fantastic beasts.

Type Rules!: The Designer's Guide to Professional Typography


Ilene Strizver - 2001
    Covering history of design, along with current trends, methods for customizing fonts, techniques for setting type, common mistakes to avoid, and guidelines for selecting the right type for the job, the book is fully illustrated with smart, relevant images.

The Guardian of Mercy: How an Extraordinary Painting by Caravaggio Changed an Ordinary Life Today


Terence Ward - 2016
    Three years later he was in Naples, where he painted The Seven Acts of Mercy. A year later he died at the age of thirty-eight under mysterious circumstances. Exploring Caravaggio's singular masterwork, in The Guardian of Mercy Terence Ward offers an incredible narrative journey into the heart of his artistry and his metamorphosis from fugitive to visionary.Ward's guide in this journey is a contemporary artist whose own life was transformed by the painting, a simple man named Angelo who shows him where it still hangs in a small church in Naples and whose story helps him see its many layers. As Ward unfolds the structure of the painting, he explains each of the seven mercies and its influence on Caravaggio's troubled existence. Caravaggio encountered the whole range of Naples's vertical social layers, from the lowest ranks of poverty to lofty gilded aristocratic circles, and Ward reveals the old city behind today's metropolis. Fusing elements of history, biography, memoir, travelogue, and journalism, his narrative maps the movement from estrangement to grace, as we witness Caravaggio's bruised life gradually redeemed by art.

Vargic's Miscellany of Curious Maps


Martin Vargic - 2015
    See the world mapped out by stereotypes; discover the internet in cartographical form; marvel at the maps of global technology and culture; and explore the world through infographics and statistics. This wonderful and strange atlas is a treasure trove of interesting, unexpected and bizarre facts, a glorious celebration of our big beautiful diverse world.

All That Is Made: A Guide to Faith and the Creative Life


Alabaster Co. - 2019
    Humans are creative; it is a quality embedded in the fabric of our being, and a reality that reflects our existence as being made in the image of God.This book is a compilation of our e-books Liturgy for Creatives and On Becoming Creative, and new reflections—encompassing Alabaster's lived experience as a creative company for the past two years. It is a first step, the beginning of a conversation that allows readers to engage their faith and creativity against the larger backdrop of the God who has made all that is made.

The DC Comics Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics


Mark Chiarello - 2004
    Chiarello explains the entire coloring process, from computer and software choice to creating color effects that give the action its maximum impact. Klein discusses whether to letter by hand or by computer--a hotly debated topic among working letterers--and demonstrates an array of techniques for creasting word balloons, fonts, logos, and much more.The animated step-by-step instructions are informative, stimulating, and clear enough for even beginners to follow. In addition, every technique shown in this guide conforms to up-to-date industry standards. The perfect how-to on everything coloring and lettering, this one-stop sourcebook is packed with a wealth of tested techniques, practical advice, and professional secrets for the aspiring comic artist.

Speak Italian: The Fine Art of the Gesture


Bruno Munari - 1963
    This quirky handbook of Italian gestures, first published in 1958 by renowned Milanese artist and graphic designer Bruno Munari, will help the phalange-phobic decipher the unspoken language of gesturesa language not found in any dictionary. Charming black-and-white photos and wry captions evoke an Italy of days gone by. Speak Italian gives a little hand to anyone who has ever been at a loss for words.